A Quiet Place: Day One * * *

What do you mean, the pizza shop is closed?!

I don't know if I have become over familiar with the situation and the accompanying alien monsters of the Quiet Place films, but to be honest I found this a bit boring.

A Quiet Place: Day One is the third in the franchise. I'm surprised at the title, because the second film (A Quiet Place Part II) was a prequel which also featured the first day of this horror story.  

However this film features none of the characters that were in the first two.  It's also set in another location.  This time New York City and Manhattan Island.  So, same day, same situation, but as experienced by another group of people.  

In the first film (A Quiet Place) our hero was handicapped (challenged?) by a deaf child and a a new born baby. In this film  our hero is a young woman, Samira, who is handicapped by terminal cancer.  She does have a pet cat called Frodo to look after though, but I don't think that quite compares to children, as cute as Frodo is. He's in every scene. That's a lot of work for a cat!

It's set over a couple of days. We first meet Samira at the hospice.  She shares a similar feline temperament to her cat. Sometimes you want to kick her out, sometimes you want to cuddle her. She does have an endearing black humour. Riddled with cancer, her life is soon to be over - and she is pretty much over life.  She's cynical bitter and angry. Fair enough.

The patients at the hospice are invited for a day out: a matinee show in the city.  It turns out it's a marionette show and Samira is not impressed.  She'd rather have a pizza. She walks outside.  Looks up.  Holy crap!  Look at all those spaceships! Soon the city is in chaos as the aliens land. People are screaming and running everywhere and Samira gets a bump on the head. 

Waking from consciousness she is back in the theatre and everyone is telling her to "Be quiet!  Because, as we know, the aliens respond to noise and then they tear you apart and eat you.

The other people surviving in the theatre have got the message to go to the docks.  They need to get on board a boat, because, the aliens can't swim. The aliens don't like water apparently, which made me wonder, why doesn't everyone just go get a super soaker and give 'em hell? 

On the way to the docks  Samira gets separated from the group but soon meets up with a sporting young English Gent and together they try to survive.

It's like writer/director Michael Sarnoski (Pig) doesn't know what to do with them other than try to get a pizza in an impossible situation.  They wander round with fingers to their lips going "Hush, hush".  They return to the apartment she had before she hospitalised, she's still got some meds there and she needs them.  And then they go to Harlem where her dad ran a jazz club.  There is actually a pretty good scene in the club that reflects that earlier marionette scene.  It was nicely done but didn't alleviate the overall boredom that much. 

Then there is the race for the docks to see if they can get on board a boat. That bit is kind of fun and exciting. 

You can find out for yourself if they make it; but if you're not going to see it, and you've read this, and now you're mostly worried about Frodo the cat, yeah, he's okay.